No one knew it was the coronavirus that killed a couple in February – until now.
They both died in their homes in February, several days before COVID-19 was known to have killed anyone in the U.S. No one knew it was the coronavirus that killed them – until now.
Because neither of the Santa Clara victims had a recent history of travel or contact with COVID-19 patients, the new discovery indicates the virus was likely circulating in the U.S. earlier than thought, at least by early January.As such, the revelation will doubtlessly inspire much study and debate, but some epidemiology experts say it won’t have a major effect on the response to the virus.
With the large amount of travel between West Coast cities and destinations in China before the disease grew into a pandemic, Swartzberg said it’s not surprising cases of the new virus would soon develop stateside and go unnoticed. Swartzberg does not believe a quick end to the shutdown is in the cards. For one, he said, it’s not clear yet that serological tests measuring antibodies on those who have been infected with the coronavirus are accurate, and how long any protection would last. He also doesn’t see the numbers adding up favorably.
The steps in that direction, Schachter said, should focus on determining the virus’ prevalence in the general population, especially the rate of asymptomatic carriers, and learning how much immunity is developed by those who get infected, which remains unknown. California’s curve has generally moved in the right direction but has yet to flatten, and Newsom said Wednesday that he’s not ready to lift the state’s shutdown.
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